Monday, May 4, 2015

Kelly's Book 5.15: The Secret History

Dear Jenny,

Well, I am posting the preview post for my 5th book before we have finished chatting about Book 4, but it's okay: "It's our blog, we can post when we want to, post when we want tooooo..." Also, it's May 4 (Happy Star Wars Day!), so I gotta get this thing started cause it's a long-ish one.

Have you read it? It's been on my TBR shelf for a long while, but I ended up reading The Goldfinch first because it was in the ToB last year. People say The Secret History is better, so I am looking forward to it.

Speaking of The Goldfinch, do you find that you like it more or less as time has passed? Meaning, can you forgive the crappy ending now, remembering that it was good for most of it? Or does the terrible ending still overshadow the enjoyable parts? Just wondering.

I really know very little about The Secret History -- I think there's a mystery? A twist? A surprise ending? Mostly, I'm shocked to realize this book was published in 1992... and that was 23 years ago?! Whoa.

4 comments:

Jenny... I think I have read this book before. Or... I started it long ago when I got it? Or... the story is so ubiquitous now that I sort of know it already...?

No, it's not that last thing. I have either read it before or at *least* read this far in it before. I can't "remember" anything about it, but as I read it, I keep thinking, "Yes, yes... read this before... know what's going to happen here... they're dating, right? Mmm-hmmmm."

It's weird.

I did search our site here to make sure that at *least* it was not a previous TBR book (I felt confident it was not, because I would have remembered writing about it, even if I didn't remember reading it!) and I found our old post Listmania! (which I have just updated to reflect our completion of On Beauty) It's #69 (heh) and it does *not* have a "K" in front of it. So even back in 2011, I was sure I had not read it (more likely to have remembered then as I would have been closer to the time of reading it, right?)

I read it a long time ago! I don't really remember much of it, but it was big, buzzworthy book everyone is reading. (It's also a very attractive hardcover if I remember correctly).

I'll be curious to hear your review of it and see if it jogs my memory. I vaguely remember liking it, but then again, 20 years ago when it came out, I was *in college* and it probably felt so real. Lol.

*We* were in college, obviously. I do remember feeling something interesting about reading it, like I was taking part in the adult world's conversation about books for the first time. It's the first *big* book I remember.